Butt Out

I've been dwelling on this for a while. An increase to locations where smoking is prohibited is on its way to Ottawa. Soon you will not be able to smoke on patios, beaches, parks, and at festivals on city land. As usual there is backlash from people who choose to smoke. Why wouldn't there be? This change is further limiting their ability to smoke.

The social acceptability of smoking has been decreasing over the last several years. I would be surprised if there were five people who worked on the same floor I do that smoke. With the significant cost and damage to personal health, I don't understand why anyone would even want to smoke.

There is the argument that I always hear about it being an individual's body and they can do whatever they want. The free will side of me agrees if you want to degrade their quality of life, why should I care. Well, in a nation that has universally accessible health care, there is a cost to all taxpayers for everyone who smokes. There are not a lot of people requiring long term medical care, in or out of hospitals because they have been exercising too much. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who use costly treatment and management of smoking related illnesses including lung cancer, emphysema, COPD, and heart disease, just to name a few. So, we all pay for that. The government wouldn't need all those tax dollars they collect from cigarette sales if they didn't need to expend them on smoking related diseases.

There are really only a couple of things that detract from my daily walk to and from work. One is freezing rain, the other is tobacco smoke. It's quite prevalent. It only takes one person upwind of you to foul your time. It happens every time I walk. I accept it. Overall, the benefits of walking far outshines the brief moments I have to endure second hand smoke but it is always there.

It's unfortunate that people choose to smoke. It always starts out as a choice. At some point many develop a physical addiction, then they are trapped until they can build a lot of willpower to quit. Making smoking less accessible will only help motivate someone to quit. Hopefully many people will take that step and start leading a better life.